Automatic editing device for an english letter

• US 5,630,150 A
• Filed: 08/22/1995
• Issued: 05/13/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Kira, Haruki
• Primary Examiner(s): Herndon, Heather R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Burwell, Joseph R.
• Application Number:
  US08/517,611
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• Field of Search: 395/144-149, 364/419.1, 364/419.17
• US Class Current: 715/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

In an automatic editing device for an English letter, text data of the English letter is input by operating character keys and a space key, and an automatic edit key is then operated. The input text data is displayed at a left end portion of a display, and the layouts of four typical letter formats identified as numerals 1-4 are also displayed at a central portion of the display. In this condition, when one of numeral 1-4 keys is operated, a letter format flag corresponding to the numeral is set to select a desired one of the four letter formats. Then, the input text data is automatically edited to the selected letter format. The edited text data is stored into a work memory, and the layout of the stored text data is displayed at a right end portion of the display. Thus, when an operator merely inputs the text data of the English letter, the automatic editing device operates to automatically edit the input text data to a desired letter format.

Claims

1. A text processing device, comprising:

input means for inputting text data and commands;

data storage means for storing the text data input from said input means;

a plurality of predetermined document formats stored in the data storage means, each of the plurality of predetermined document formats corresponding to a different predetermined arrangement of text sections in a document;

display means for displaying the text data, the display means including a display;

format display control means for displaying a graphical layout of at least one of the plurality of predetermined document formats on said display according to an automatic edit command input from said input means;

format selecting means for selecting and setting one of the at least one of the plurality of predetermined document formats through the graphical layout displayed on said display; and

edit control means for automatically editing the text data inputted from said input means and stored in said data storage means to place the text data into the selected one of the plurality of predetermined document formats.

2. The text processing device of claim 1, wherein said format display control means displays at least one of a plurality of alternate English letter formats.

3. The text processing device of claim 2, wherein said data storage means stores the text data in blocks corresponding to at least one of a date, an address, a salutation, a body, a close, a signature, and a plurality of initials.

4. The text processing device of claim 3, wherein said edit control means comprises a data controller that stores at least one address for each block of the text data.

5. The text processing device of claim 4, wherein said edit control means further comprises a format editor that reads the at least one address stored in the data controller and stores the at least one address read by the format editor in said data storage means, the at least one address corresponding to blocks of the text data for the selected format.

6. The text processing device of claim 1, wherein said input means inputs the text data comprising at least one of a date block, an address block, a salutation block, a letter body block, a close block, and a signature block.

7. The text processing device of claim 1, wherein said edit control means comprises a data controller that stores at least one address for the text data, the text data being stored as blocks corresponding to sections of a letter.

8. The text processing device of claim 7, wherein said edit control means further comprises a format editor that reads the at least one address stored in the data controller and stores the at least one address read by the format editor in said data storage means, the at least one address corresponding to blocks of text data for the selected format.

9. The text processing device of claim 1, wherein said edit control means checks a sheet size and adjusts at least one of a top margin, a bottom margin, a side margin, a page length, and a page break for printing.

10. The text processing device of claim 1, wherein said format display control means includes an edit ending indicator and a letter format indicator.

11. The text processing device of claim 1, wherein said edit control means searches the text data for key words and blank lines and stores a location of the key words and blank lines based on the selected format.

12. The text processing device of claim 1, wherein the format display control means simultaneously displays a graphical layout of at least one of the plurality of predetermined document formats on said display.

13. The text processing device of claim 1, further comprising:

image storing means for storing a plurality of format images corresponding to the plurality of predetermined document formats, wherein the graphical layout of at least one of the plurality of predetermined document formats comprises at least one of the plurality of format images.

14. The text processing device of claim 1, wherein the display simultaneously displays the text data and at least one of the plurality of the predetermined alternate document formats.

15. A text processing device, comprising:

an input device that inputs text data;

a memory device that stores the text data;

a plurality of predetermined document formats stored in the memory device, each of the plurality of predetermined document formats corresponding to a different predetermined arrangement of text sections of a document;

a display that displays the text data and at least one of the plurality of predetermined document formats;

a format selector that selects one of the plurality of predetermined document formats from one of the at least one of the plurality of predetermined document formats displayed on the display; and

an editor that automatically edits the text data based on the selected one of the plurality of predetermined document formats to form formatted text data, and stores the formatted text data in the memory device.

16. The text processing device of claim 15, wherein said memory device stores the text data in blocks and the editor controls the storage of an address for each block.

17. The text processing device of claim 16, wherein said editor reads the the addresses for each block and controls the storage of each address in a work memory corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of predetermined document formats.

18. The text processing device of claim 15, wherein said memory stores a plurality of alternate English letter formats.

19. The text processing device of claim 15, wherein said input device inputs text data comprising at least one of a date block, an address block, a salutation block, a letter body block, a close block, and a signature block.

20. The text processing device of claim 15, wherein said memory stores the text data in blocks corresponding to at least one of a date, an address, a salutation, a body, a close, a signature, and a plurality of initials.

21. The text processing device of claim 15, wherein said editor includes an edit ending indicator and a letter format indicator.

22. The text processing device of claim 15, wherein said editor searches the text data for key words and blank lines and stores a location of the key words and the blank lines based on the selected one of the plurality of predetermined document formats.

23. The text processing device of claim 15, wherein the display simultaneously displays the text data and at least one of the plurality of the alternate document for mats.

24. The text processing device of claim 23, wherein the display simultaneously displays the text data and the plurality of the alternate document formats.

25. The text processing device of claim 23, wherein the display further simultaneously displays the formatted text data.

26. The text processing device of claim 15, wherein the memory device further stores a plurality of format images corresponding to the plurality of predetermined document formats, the display displaying at least one of the plurality of format images as the at least one of the plurality of predetermined document formats.

27. A method for automatically formatting text data, comprising:

providing a plurality of predetermined document formats in a memory device, each of the plurality of predetermined document formats corresponding to a different predetermined arrangement of text sections of a document;

inputting text data using an input device;

storing the text data in the memory device;

simultaneously displaying the text data and at least one format image corresponding to at least one of the plurality of predetermined document formats;

selecting one of the at least one of the plurality of predetermined document formats from the displayed at least one format image;

searching the text data for key words and blank spaces;

marking the text data based on the searching step; and

storing the marked text data in the memory device in the selected one of the plurality of the predetermined document formats.